Rick Santorum

Charles Dharapak/Associated Press

News about Rick Santorum, including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times.

Chronology of Coverage

Jun. 22, 2015

Several Republican politicians have received campaign contributions from Earl Holt III, leader of white supremacist group Council of Conservative Citizens, which has been linked to Charleston, SC, murder suspect Dylann Roof; among recipients are 2016 presidential contenders Rick Santorum, Rand Paul and Ted Cruz, who says he will return $8,500 in donations from Holt. MORE

May. 28, 2015

Rick Santorum's stand on issues of foreign policy, same-sex marriage, environment, immigration and economy summarized; former senator from Pennsylvania has declared his intent to run for Republican presidential nomination. MORE

May. 28, 2015

Rick Santorum announces bid for 2016 presidential nomination, his second following failed 2012 bid; Santorum, known for his appeal to social conservatives, has reworked his image in effort to court working class families. MORE

Apr. 11, 2015

Editorial decries unchecked fundraising being carried out by 2016 presidential aspirants who are evading contribution limits by not yet 'formally' declaring their candidacy; contends secretive money being raised by Jeb Bush, Scott Walker, Rick Santorum and Martin O'Malley is insulting to voters who expect honesty and sets bad precedent for rest of race. MORE

Apr. 24, 2012

New York's Republican presidential primary appears to be an electoral afterthought, after Rick Santorum's exit from the race and Mitt Romney's rise to the level of presumptive nominee; at stake are New York's 96 delegates. MORE

Apr. 18, 2012

Former Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum refrains from endorsing likely nominee Mitt Romney during a conference call, but says defeating Pres Obama is the priority; asks for help in retiring his campaign debt. MORE

Apr. 12, 2012

Evangelical leaders have begun to cautiously embrace Mitt Romney, now that Rick Santorum, who enjoyed their strong support, has suspended his campaign; some leaders have noted that their shared hostility toward Pres Obama will be a powerful force for uniting the party, and overcoming their previous criticisms of Romney. MORE

Apr. 11, 2012

Rick Santorum announces that he is ending his presidential campaign, clearing the way for Mitt Romney to claim the Republican nomination; Santorum's exit dashes the hopes of social conservatives, who had propelled his surprisingly successful challenge to the Republican establishment. MORE

Apr. 11, 2012

Editorial welcomes Rick Santorum's exit from the contest for the Republican nomination; asserts that Santorum's appeal to the religious right drove the primary contest to new lows. MORE

Apr. 10, 2012

Romney campaign pulls ads critical of Republican presidential rival Rick Santorum in Pennsylvania after Santorum’s three-year-old disabled daughter, Bella, is hospitalized; her medical struggles--and the public outpouring of sympathy for her--have the potential to complicate Romney's efforts to quickly end the Republican nominating fight. MORE

Apr. 6, 2012

Rick Santorum meets with conservative leaders to consider various strategies to help his faltering campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, even as many analysts argue that Santorum has no viable path to victory. MORE

Apr. 5, 2012

Rick Santorum has not yet acknowledged defeat in the face of Mitt Romney's three-state primary sweep, but his advisers admit that the path to victory has now become obscure; his future has been cast in doubt not only by a widening delegate gap, but increasing signs that his conservative base may be turning away. MORE

Apr. 4, 2012

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s campaign is hoping for momentum heading into Pennsylvania, the home state of rival Rick Santorum, who has called it a must-win primary; even without a victory, Romney's aides think he can win more than half of its 72 delegates. MORE

Apr. 3, 2012

Political Memo; despite the delegate gap, Rick Santorum is digging in for another month of hard campaigning, seeking to capture the Republican presidential nomination as long as he can see a path to win, even if it means forcing an open convention; launches new negative ad campaign attacking Mitt Romney as a moderate. MORE

Apr. 2, 2012

Rick Santorum, trailing Mitt Romney at the polls and in terms of endorsements, has made four appearances at bowling alleys across Wisconsin in an effort to drive home his working-class credentials. MORE

Apr. 1, 2012

Wisconsin polls show Mitt Romney leading Rick Santorum in Republican presidential primary; victory would neutralize his most powerful critics and rally a broad spectrum of conservatives behind him as party leaders grow increasingly eager to take on Pres Obama. MORE

Mar. 29, 2012

Rick Santorum has toned down his vitriolic attacks on Mitt Romney following widespread backlash of opinion that he had gone too far against a fellow Republican; new, reserved tone does not attract the free media attention his cash-poor campaign requires, and has disappointed some of his more impassioned supporters. MORE

Mar. 27, 2012

More Catholic voters appear to favor Mitt Romney in the Republican presidential race even though Rick Santorum is Catholic; analysts speculate that many Catholics, who tend to be more representative of the electorate as a whole, are more likely to support moderate candidates. MORE

Mar. 26, 2012

Rick Santorum ignores a mounting chorus of Republicans calling for an end to his divisive candidacy, as he initiates his campaign among voters in Wisconsin; while Santorum has carried 10 states, the delegate scorecard still overwhelmingly favors Mitt Romney, making victory in Wisconsin essential for him to keep his aspirations alive. MORE

Mar. 25, 2012

Rick Santorum easily wins the Louisiana Republican primary, propelled by social conservatives; win gives him a much-needed psychological boost, but is unlikely to derail his chief rival Mitt Romney. MORE

Mar. 24, 2012

Conservative women have formed a core of Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum’s support since the primaries began, drawn by his message of family values and his personal biography; even as it becomes increasingly clear that Santorum will likely not be the nominee, women who support him say they still will have sent a message about values, and console themselves with the fact that Santorum is young enough to consider a future presidential bid. MORE

Mar. 24, 2012

Republican presidential contender Rick Santorum recalibrates remark he made a day earlier suggesting that the United States would be just as well off re-electing Pres Obama as it would be electing Mitt Romney; says he will back whoever is the Republican presidential nominee. MORE

Mar. 24, 2012

Samuel G Freedman On Religion column explores the remarkable support Rick Santorum, a Roman Catholic, has received from evangelical supporters in the Republican presidential primary process. MORE

Mar. 22, 2012

Five ThirtyEight blog notes that Mitt Romney's victories in Illinois and Puerto Rico put him comfortably ahead of Rick Santorum, and have put him on a relatively stable track to collect the 1,114 delegates required to clinch the nomination and fend off a fight at the convention; holds that Romney is likely to gain the nomination unless he damages his own campaign. MORE

Mar. 22, 2012

Rick Santorum has increasingly peppered his speeches with references to epochal moments in American history, as he attempts to stress the historical urgency of his own candidacy. MORE

Mar. 21, 2012

Mitt Romney sweeps to victory in the Illinois Republican primary, using the full force of his campaign and an argument that he has the best chance of defeating Pres Obama to overcome doubts among more conservative Republican voters; Rick Santorum is a distant second place; Romney's sizable win comes after narrow margins of victory in battleground states that kept alive questions about his ability to rally his party behind him. MORE

Mar. 21, 2012

Analysts say Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum, who represented Pennsylvania for 16 years in Congress, must win the April 24 primary there if he is to have any hope of moving forward with his campaign. MORE

Mar. 20, 2012

Presidential candidates disclose their monthly campaign fund-raising for February 2012; Pres Obama raised $45 million, a big increase for the month; Mitt Romney raised $11.5 million, Rick Santorum raised more than $9 million and Ron Paul reports $3.3. million in contributions; Newt Gingrich has not yet released his report. MORE

Mar. 20, 2012

Rick Santorum has been a long-time prolific writer of op-ed articles, letters to the editor and guest columns in some of the country’s largest and most influential newspapers, all displaying many of the traits that define him as a presidential candidate: a deep and unwavering Catholic faith, a suspicion of secularism and a conviction that the country is on a path toward cultural ruin. MORE

Mar. 20, 2012

Frank Bruni Op-Ed column notes that Rick Santorum, despite his deep adherence to official Catholic doctrine on social and reproductive issues, is not as popular among Catholic voters as Mitt Romney; contends that American Catholics often maintain liberal viewpoints that are at odds with church orthodoxy. MORE

Mar. 19, 2012

Illinois has traditionally favored moderate Republicans, but as voters there prepare to go the polls for the Republican primary, Mitt Romney has a fight on his hands; recent poll shows him ahead of Rick Santorum by only 4 percentage points; some Republicans say this state’s political inclinations are simply shifting, giving a more conservative bloc a far louder voice and leaving them wondering whether that old Illinois stalwart, the middle-of-the-road Republican, is obsolete. MORE

Mar. 19, 2012

Rick Santorum has begun a strong rhetorical focus on rural America, attempting to differentiate himself from what he says is Mitt Romney's allegiance to America's urban elite; Santorum insists that his zero percent corporate tax rate on manufacturing would reap strong benefits for rural workers and small business owners. MORE

Mar. 19, 2012

Mitt Romney hails his victory in the Puerto Rico primary as the latest sign of his strength over Rick Santorum, as his campaign turns its attention to the more difficult and decisive battle in Illinois; Romney is likely to receive all 20 of Puerto Rico's delegates. MORE

Mar. 18, 2012

Republicans are preparing for the possibility that their presidential nomination could be decided at the national convention rather than on the campaign trail, event that has not occurred in 36 years; Mitt Romney is still on track to gain the 1,144 delegates necessary to clinch the nomination, but his struggle to win the hearts of conservative voters and to hold off Rick Santorum's popularity has caused serious concern among party leaders. MORE

Mar. 17, 2012

Rick Santorum's landslide defeat in the 2006 Pennsylvania Senate race, in part due to his strong support for the Iraq war and conservative family values, helped him establish his political persona; those values, passionate and polarizing on social and moral issues, hawkish on international policy, have allowed him to cast himself as the face of conservatism as he challenges Mitt Romney for the Republican presidential nomination. (Series: The Long Run) MORE

Mar. 17, 2012

Republican voters in Missouri can take two attempts at choosing their preferred candidate in the Republican presidential nomination, due to quirk in state's election law; primary in February gave Rick Santorum a victory, but no delegates were at stake; Missouri counties have option to use Santorum's win as a starting point in their selection of delegates to Republican convention if they choose. MORE

Mar. 16, 2012

Rick Santorum and his aides are scrambling to contain political damage and outrage after Santorum statement that Puerto Rico would need to adopt English as its official language in order to become a state; Santorum lost his single Puerto Rican delegate after he became offended at the remark. MORE

Mar. 15, 2012

Mar. 14, 2012

Rick Santorum captures twin victories in the Alabama and Mississippi Republican presidential primaries, overcoming the financial advantages of Mitt Romney and the Southern allegiances to Newt Gingrich; Santorum's victories amplify his argument that the Republican nomination fight is becoming a two-man race with Romney. MORE

Mar. 14, 2012

News analysis; how far Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum will go in the race depends in no small part on what rival Newt Gingrich does from here; if Gingrich stays in, Santorum will continue to share the anti-Mitt Romney vote and see his chances dim; if Gingrich drops out, Santorum will still face difficult delegate math in stopping Romney from the nomination. MORE

Mar. 13, 2012

Comments made by Republican presidential candidates Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum on the campaign trail regarding Afghanistan echo polls that show public support for the Afghan war has fallen sharply among voters of all parties. MORE

Mar. 13, 2012

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has invested tens of millions of dollars trying to crush Newt Gingrich's campaign, but Gingrich's persistence has so far allowed Romney to dodge a head-to-head competition that his rival Rick Santorum has been craving; Gingrich's presence has led to fiercely contested three-way primary races in Alabama and Mississippi, which may also help Romney's chances of winning. MORE

Mar. 12, 2012

Volatile contests in Alabama and Mississippi, both of which are nearing their Republican primaries, suggest a fragmented and fickle Southern electorate; Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney are pressing hard hoping to either narrow the field in the nomination contest or to help prolong it; national polling companies find a near toss-up among the three leading candidates. MORE

Mar. 11, 2012

Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum decisively wins the Kansas caucuses with 51 percent of the vote; Mitt Romney scores victories in the Wyoming caucuses and some overseas territories. MORE

Mar. 10, 2012

Republican presidential contender Rick Santorum tries to motivate his supporters in Kansas to give him a big victory in the state's caucuses, largely bypassed by rivals Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich, in order to build momentum for contests in the Deep South. MORE

Mar. 9, 2012

Newt Gingrich, facing calls from Rick Santorum supporters to quit the presidential race in order to unite conservatives, has bet his remaining capital on winning the Alabama and Mississippi primaries; polls in Alabama and elsewhere, however, show momentum shifting strongly to Santorum. MORE

Mar. 8, 2012

Rick Santorum's campaign and his allies begin prodding Newt Gingrich to abandon the primary race so that conservatives can unite behind Santorum against Mitt Romney; Gingrich rejects appeals, focusing his efforts on the southern states of Alabama and Mississippi; two campaigns have avoided conflict until now, favoring attacks on Romney, but observers say a clash has become inevitable. MORE

Mar. 7, 2012

Mitt Romney appears to pull off a narrow victory in Ohio on Super Tuesday, but loses several other states to Rick Santorum; split verdict overshadows Romney's claim of collecting the most delegates and all but ensures another round of intense infighting on the road to the Republican presidential nomination. MORE